[Senate Report 117-83]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                      Calendar No. 284
117th Congress         }                        {             Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session            }                        {             117-83

======================================================================



 
               MODERNIZING ACCESS TO OUR PUBLIC LAND ACT

                                _______
                                

               February 28, 2022.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

         Mr. Manchin, from the Committee on Energy and Natural 
                   Resources, submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 904]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the bill (S. 904), to require the Secretary of the 
Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Assistant 
Secretary of the Army for Civil Works to digitize and make 
publicly available geographic information system mapping data 
relating to public access to Federal land and waters for 
outdoor recreation, and for other purposes, having considered 
the same, reports favorably thereon with an amendment in the 
nature of a substitute and recommends that the bill, as 
amended, do pass.

                               AMENDMENT

    The amendment is as follows:
    Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the 
following:

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Modernizing Access to Our Public 
Land Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
          (1) Federal land.--The term ``Federal land'' means any land 
        managed by a Federal land management agency.
          (2) Federal land management agency.--The term ``Federal land 
        management agency'' means--
                  (A) the Bureau of Reclamation;
                  (B) the National Park Service;
                  (C) the Bureau of Land Management;
                  (D) the United States Fish and Wildlife Service;
                  (E) the Forest Service; and
                  (F) the Corps of Engineers.
          (3) Road or trail.--The term ``road or trail'' means a road 
        or trail designated by 1 or more of the Secretaries for public 
        use.
          (4) Secretaries.--The term ``Secretaries'' means--
                  (A) the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the 
                Chief of the Forest Service;
                  (B) the Secretary of the Interior; and
                  (C) the Secretary of the Army, acting through the 
                Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works.

SEC. 3. INTERAGENCY DATA STANDARDIZATION.

    Not later than 30 months after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Secretaries shall jointly develop and adopt interagency standards 
to ensure compatibility and interoperability among applicable Federal 
databases with respect to the collection and dissemination of data--
          (1) relating to outdoor recreation sites on Federal land; and
          (2) used to depict locations at which recreation uses are 
        available to the public.

SEC. 4. DIGITIZATION AND PUBLICATION OF EASEMENTS.

    (a) In General.--Subject to the availability of appropriations, not 
later than 4 years after the date of enactment of this Act, each of the 
Secretaries, to the maximum extent practicable, shall digitize and make 
publicly available on the website of the Department of the Interior, 
the Forest Service, and the Corps of Engineers, as applicable, 
geographic information system mapping data that specifies, with respect 
to the relevant Secretary, all Federal interests in private land, 
including easements, reservations, and rights-of-way--
          (1) to which the Federal Government does not have a fee title 
        interest; and
          (2) that may be used to provide recreational access to the 
        Federal land.
    (b) Public Evaluation of Accuracy.--The Secretaries shall include 
on each website referred to in subsection (a), as applicable, a point 
of contact to allow members of the public to ask questions or provide 
feedback regarding the information described in that subsection.

SEC. 5. DATA CONSOLIDATION AND PUBLICATION OF ROUTE AND AREA DATA FOR 
                    RECREATION USERS.

    (a) In General.--Subject to the availability of appropriations, 
beginning not later than 5 years after the date of enactment of this 
Act, each of the Secretaries, to the maximum extent practicable, shall 
make publicly available on the website of the Department of the 
Interior, the Forest Service, and the Corps of Engineers, as 
applicable, geographic information system data with respect to the 
following:
          (1) Status information with respect to whether roads and 
        trails on the Federal land are open or closed.
          (2) The dates on which roads and trails on the Federal land 
        are seasonally closed.
          (3) The classes of vehicles and types of recreational uses 
        that are allowed on each segment of roads and trails on the 
        Federal land, including the permissibility of--
                  (A) off-highway vehicles;
                  (B) motorcycles;
                  (C) nonmotorized bicycles;
                  (D) electric bicycles;
                  (E) passenger vehicles;
                  (F) nonmechanized transportation; and
                  (G) over-snow vehicles.
          (4) The boundaries of areas where hunting or recreational 
        shooting (including archery, firearm discharge, and target 
        shooting) is regulated or closed on the Federal land.
    (b) Updates.--
          (1) In general.--The Secretaries shall update the data 
        described in subsection (a) not less frequently than 2 times 
        per year.
          (2) Public evaluation of accuracy.--The Secretaries shall 
        include on each website referred to in subsection (a), as 
        applicable, a point of contact to allow members of the public 
        to ask questions or provide feedback regarding the information 
        described in that subsection.
    (c) Effect.--Geographic information system data made publicly 
available under subsection (a) shall not disclose information regarding 
the nature, location, character, or ownership of historic, 
paleontological, or archaeological resources, consistent with 
applicable law.

SEC. 6. COOPERATION AND COORDINATION.

    (a) Third-Party Providers.--The Secretaries may enter into an 
agreement with a third party to carry out any provision of this Act.
    (b) US Geological Survey.--The Director of the United States 
Geological Survey may collect, aggregate, digitize, standardize, or 
publish data on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior to meet the 
requirements of this Act.

SEC. 7. REPORTS.

    Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act and 
annually thereafter through September 30, 2031, the Secretaries shall 
submit a report on the progress made by the Secretaries with respect to 
meeting the requirements of this Act to--
          (1) the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the 
        Senate;
          (2) the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the 
        Senate;
          (3) the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of 
        Representatives; and
          (4) the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the 
        House of Representatives.

SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated--
          (1) to the Secretary of the Interior to carry out this Act--
                  (A) $2,500,000 for fiscal year 2022; and
                  (B) $5,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 
                2025;
          (2) to the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out this Act--
                  (A) $2,500,000 for fiscal year 2022; and
                  (B) $5,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 
                2025; and
          (3) to the Secretary of the Army to carry out this Act--
                  (A) $1,500,000 for fiscal year 2022; and
                  (B) $2,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 
                2025.

                                PURPOSE

    The purpose of S. 904 is to require the Secretary of the 
Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Assistant 
Secretary of the Army for Civil Works to digitize and make 
publicly available geographic information system mapping data 
relating to public access to Federal land and waters for 
outdoor recreation.

                          BACKGROUND AND NEED

    The public demand to access and enjoy Federal lands for 
recreational fishing, hunting, and other forms of outdoor 
recreation continues to increase. However, there is currently 
incomplete and inconsistent mapping data available to outdoor 
recreationists as well as land management agencies such as the 
Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the National 
Park Service, and the Army Corps of Engineers. The current 
situation prevents the full benefits of digital mapping and 
global positioning system (``GPS'') technologies from being 
used to navigate public lands. For example, a hunter, angler, 
or other outdoor recreationist's real-time location on the 
landscape can be pinpointed with a GPS unit, allowing the user 
to know exactly where he or she is relative to property 
boundaries, roads or trails, easements, and other key 
landmarks.
    The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management own many 
easements on adjacent private land that provide legal means of 
access into lands managed by these agencies. However, records 
of many of these easements are not digitized or stored in 
public records, such as at a courthouse or county office, but 
rather are stored only in paper files in various local or 
regional offices. This makes it difficult or impossible for 
outdoor recreationists to know the various locations available 
to them that can be used for accessing public land. Also, 
having accessible information available online and in one place 
will help the Federal land management agencies identify the 
biannual prioritized list of parcels that have significantly 
restricted public access, as required by section 4105 of the 
John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation 
Act (Public Law 116-9).
    In 2019, the Montana/Dakotas District of the BLM completed 
a pilot project, digitizing their road and trail access 
easements, and now other districts are also planning to begin 
digitizing their access easements. In 2020, the Forest Service 
estimated that, of the 37,000 existing easements held by the 
agency, only 5,000 had been converted into digital files. S. 
904 would provide direction and authorize additional resources 
to help land management agencies digitize Federal easements and 
to ensure that geospatial data is consistent across agencies 
and easily accessible to the public, in order to facilitate its 
use.

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    S. 904 was introduced in the 117th Congress by Senator 
Risch on March 23, 2021. The bill currently has 16 co-sponsors. 
The Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining held a 
hearing on this bill on June 16, 2021. Representative Blake 
Moore introduced a House companion bill, H.R. 3113, on May 11, 
2021. An amended version of H.R. 3113 was ordered to be 
reported by unanimous consent by the Committee on Natural 
Resources in the House of Representatives on July 14, 2021. In 
the 116th Congress, similar bills were introduced by Senator 
McSally, S. 3427, and Representative Fulcher, H.R. 6169, on 
March 10, 2020. Neither bill received any further action.

                          COMMITTEE AMENDMENT

    During its consideration of S. 904, the Committee adopted 
an amendment in the nature of a substitute to the bill which 
makes several substantive changes. The amendment limits the 
requirement for standardizing and disseminating recreation data 
to information related to the location and operating status of 
Federal recreation sites. It also lengthens the time for the 
Secretaries to create a website depicting all roads on Federal 
land, whether they are closed to public travel, and the types 
of vehicles that are allowed. The amendment eliminates the 
bill's requirement to provide information regarding watercraft 
use on bodies of water on Federal land. Also, the amendment 
adds two new provisions that require the Secretaries to update 
this information twice per year and permit the Secretaries to 
work with a third party to gather and publish this data. 
Finally, the amendment limits the reporting requirement to the 
first 10 years after enactment. The amendment is described in 
detail in the section-by-section analysis, below.

                        COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

    The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in an 
open business session on November 18, 2021, by a majority voice 
vote of a quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 
904, if amended as described herein.

                      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1. Short title

    This section provides the short title of the Act as 
``Modernizing Access to our Public Land Act''.

Sec. 2. Definitions

    Section 2 provides key definitions for the bill, including 
the applicable Federal land management agencies.

Sec. 3. Interagency data standardization

    Section 3 directs the listed land management agencies to 
jointly develop interagency standards for data relating to 
their outdoor recreation sites and data used to depict open 
locations to the public. This section directs the Secretaries 
to adopt these standards within 30 months after the date of 
enactment and to ensure consistency among the various agencies' 
databases to ensure interoperability.

Sec. 4. Digitization and publication of easements

    Subsection (a) directs each of the Secretaries to digitize 
and make available to the public geographic information system 
mapping data of Federally-owned easements and rights-of-way on 
adjacent private land that may be used to provide recreational 
access to Federal land. The information is to be made available 
on the websites of the listed land management agencies within 4 
years of the date of enactment of this Act.
    Subsection (b) requires the Secretaries to include on each 
website a point of contact to allow members of the public to 
provide feedback to ensure the information is accurate.

Sec. 5. Data consolidation and publication of route and area data for 
        recreation users

    Subsection (a) requires the Secretaries to publish 
electronic mapping data regarding the following: status 
information as to when roads and trails are open or closed and 
the dates of which roads and trails are seasonally opened and 
closed, types of vehicles that are allowed on each segment of 
roads and trails, and boundaries of areas where hunting or 
recreational shooting is regulated or closed. Section 5 
requires the Secretaries to publish this information within 5 
years after the date of enactment of this Act.
    Subsection (b) requires the Secretaries to update the 
information described in subsection (a) twice per year and 
requires a point of contact on each website for members of the 
public to confirm or dispute the accuracy of the published 
information.
    Subsection (c) prohibits the data being made available 
online under this Act from disclosing sensitive information, 
including the presence of historic, paleontological, or 
archaeological resources.

Sec. 6. Cooperation and coordination

    Subsection (a) permits the Secretaries to enter into 
agreements with a third party to carry out the provisions in 
this Act.
    Subsection (b) permits the Director of the U.S. Geological 
Survey to collect, digitize, standardize, or publish data on 
behalf of the Secretary of the Interior to meet the 
requirements of this Act.

Sec. 7. Reports

    Section 7 requires the Secretaries to submit a report to 
Congress on the progress made within one year of the date of 
enactment of this Act, and annually each year thereafter 
through September 30, 2031.

Sec. 8. Authorization of appropriations

    Section 8 authorizes a total of $47 million to be 
appropriated to the Department of the Interior, the Forest 
Service, and the Army Corps of Engineers through fiscal year 
2025.

                   COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

    The Congressional Budget Office has not estimated the costs 
of S. 904 as passed by the Senate. The Committee has requested, 
but has not yet received, the Congressional Budget Office's 
estimate of the cost of S. 904 as ordered reported. When the 
Congressional Budget Office completes its cost estimate, it 
will be posted on the Internet at www.cbo.gov.

                      REGULATORY IMPACT EVALUATION

    In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following 
evaluation of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in 
carrying out S. 904. The bill is not a regulatory measure in 
the sense of imposing Government-established standards or 
significant economic responsibilities on private individuals 
and businesses. No personal information would be collected in 
administering the program. Therefore, there would be no impact 
on personal privacy. Little, if any, additional paperwork would 
result from the enactment of S. 904, as ordered reported.

                   CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING

    S. 904, as ordered reported, does not contain any 
congressionally directed spending items, limited tax benefits, 
or limited tariff benefits as defined in rule XLIV of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate.

                        EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

    The testimonies provided by the Department of the Interior 
and the Department of Agriculture at the June 16, 2021, hearing 
on S. 904 follow:

  Statement of Nada Wolff Culver, Deputy Director, Policy & Programs, 
       Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior

    Thank you for the opportunity to testify on S. 904, the 
Modernizing Access to Our Public Land Act. The bill directs the 
Department of the Interior (Department), the U.S. Forest 
Service (USFS), and the Army Corps of Engineers to jointly 
develop and adopt interagency compatibility standards for 
Federal databases for the collection and dissemination of 
public lands recreation data. S. 904 also requires Federal 
agencies to digitize geographic information system (GIS) 
mapping data related to recreational access and travel 
management and make it available to the public.
    The Department supports the goals of the bill, which align 
with our vision to increase access to outdoor recreation 
opportunities for all Americans. Improving equitable access to 
the outdoors for all people and offering opportunities to fully 
enjoy our nation's public lands, including to communities that 
have disproportionately less access to nature, is an important 
priority for Secretary Haaland, and consistent with President 
Biden's call to action in Executive Order 14008, Tackling the 
Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, to conserve, connect, and 
restore 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030 for the sake 
of our economy, our health, and our well-being. Achieving these 
goals will involve working collaboratively to pursue 
conservation approaches that benefit local communities, improve 
access to recreation, and expand economic growth.
    Investing in technologies to help visitors locate and 
safely access public lands is essential to supporting a variety 
of recreational activities such as hunting, fishing, mountain 
biking, climbing, kayaking, camping, and hiking. We believe 
this bill has the potential to address some long-standing 
challenges surrounding public access and data management and we 
look forward to working with the sponsor and the Committee to 
address a number of technical issues in the legislation.


                               background


    Federal land management agencies oversee approximately 640 
million surface acres. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is 
responsible for approximately 245 million of those acres while 
the USFS manages another 193 million. Most other Federal land 
is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), with 
over 92 million acres, and the National Park Service (NPS), 
with approximately 80 million acres. The Bureau of Reclamation 
(Reclamation) and the Army Corps of Engineers also manage 
Federal lands that are used for recreation.
Geospatial Data Management/Federal Geographic Data Committee
    The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) is an 
interagency committee established in 1990 that leads the 
development, implementation, and review of Federal policies, 
practices, and standards related to geospatial data. The U.S. 
Geological Survey serves as its Executive Secretariat. Under 
the Geospatial Data Act (GDA; P.L. 115-254), the FGDC 
undertakes its mission with the understanding that jointly 
developing standards across agencies promotes the 
interoperability of Federal data and makes it more useful to 
more citizens.
    For example, as part of the Federal Data Strategy FY 2020 
Action Plan, the FGDC and the Chief Data Officers Council will 
develop machine interpretable processes to better relate data 
kept in different databases. The Department also has agreements 
with the USFS to improve interagency data management. Lastly, 
Geoplatform, the Federal government's geospatial shared 
service, provides one place for national-level data to be 
registered and accessed by users. These ongoing efforts are 
improving the accessibility and usefulness of existing data 
assets.
    Under the FGDC organizational structure, the BLM leads the 
FGDC Cadastral Subcommittee, which develops and implements 
plans to coordinate cadastral data-related activities among 
Federal, state, tribal, and local governments, and the private 
sector. The BLM publishes two key datasets through the FGDC: 
the Public Land Survey System (PLSS), which is a coordinate 
dataset based on cadastral survey information used for parcel 
level mapping, and the Surface Management Agency (SMA) dataset, 
which captures the best available Federal ownership 
information. Both datasets support large scale depiction of 
Federal ownership information and enhance our ability to depict 
parcel level data for many purposes, including public access.


                                 s. 904


    S. 904 directs Federal land management agencies to develop 
interagency standards to ensure compatibility among Federal 
databases related to outdoor recreation. The bill requires 
Federal agencies to digitize geographic information system 
(GIS) mapping data related to recreational access and travel 
management and make it available to the public.
Data Consolidation, Digitization, and Publication
    Most of the data attributes identified in the bill will 
require agencies to coordinate across many locations and 
levels, and some attributes are likely to change regularly or 
may not currently exist in a digital format. The capacities of 
the FGDC will help agencies meet such challenges. The BLM notes 
several provisions within Section 5(a) appear to overlap with 
the requirements of the Dingell Act, which requires the BLM to 
solicit input from the public and other stakeholders every two 
years to identify and publish a priority list of BLM parcels 
with high recreational values that are either inaccessible or 
have significantly restricted public access.
    The BLM is currently reviewing more than 2,000 public 
priority access nominations for potential inclusion on the list 
to be published later this year. The BLM Public Lands Access 
Project has already begun an internal initiative to digitize 
recreational access information into geospatial files and make 
that information available to the public by the end of FY 2022.
    In 2019, the BLM also initiated an effort to consolidate 
and modernize the BLM land status records systems, through the 
development of the Mineral and Land Records System (MLRS).

 Statement of Chris French, Deputy Chief, National Forest System, U.S. 
             Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture

    Chairman Cortez Masto, Ranking Member Lee and members of 
the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear 
before you today to present the views of the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture (USDA) on several public land bills.


       s 904: modernizing access to our public land (mapland) act


    The Modernizing Access to Our Public Lands Act would direct 
DOI, the USDA Forest Service, and the U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers to jointly develop and adopt interagency standards to 
ensure compatibility and interoperability among federal 
databases for the collection and dissemination of outdoor 
recreation data related to federal lands. Specifically, the 
bill would require DOI, the USDA Forest Service, and the Army 
Corps of Engineers to digitize and publish geographic 
information system mapping data that includes:
           federal interests in private land, including 
        easements and rights-of-way;
           status information as to whether roads and 
        trails are open or closed;
           the dates on which roads and trails are 
        seasonally opened and closed;
           the types of vehicles that are allowed on 
        each segment of roads and trails;
           the boundaries of areas where hunting or 
        recreational shooting is regulated or closed; and
           the boundaries of any portion of a body of 
        water that is closed to entry, is closed to watercraft, 
        or has horsepower limitations for watercraft.
    USDA supports the goal of enhancing access to National 
Forest System lands by providing the specified data digitally 
for online use by the public. The Department would like to work 
with the bill sponsors and the Committee to address some 
remaining issues posed by this bill.
    Some of the information and classes of data are currently 
available and accessible in Forest Service databases, including 
easements and rights-of-ways, and whether and when roads and 
trails are open or closed to various classes of motorized 
vehicles. Additionally, the Sportsmen's Access to Federal Land 
provisions in the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management 
and Recreation Act (Public Law 116-9) requires annual reporting 
of National Forest System lands temporarily or permanently 
closed to hunting, fishing or recreational shooting under the 
Act but does not require the closures to be provided in digital 
form for use in online mapping.
    Currently, the Forest Service does not maintain information 
on water bodies that are closed to watercraft or have 
horsepower limitations. Additionally, on water bodies where 
states, counties, or other governmental entities have 
jurisdiction over watercraft use, it would be exceedingly 
difficult for the Forest Service to build and keep current an 
accurate database of those restrictions. We recommend the bill 
language clarify that the Agency not be required to collect and 
compile information on watercraft restrictions imposed by other 
governmental entities.
    We additionally recommend the date for reporting be changed 
to allow upward reporting after the end of the fiscal year, so 
units can prioritize keeping facilities open for public use and 
maintaining preparedness for emergency response such as 
wildfires during summer and early fall.
    USDA appreciates the Committee's interest in these 
important topics and strongly supports efforts to foster 
recreational use of federal lands. We look forward to working 
with the bill sponsors and the Committee to promote these 
important goals.

                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no 
changes in existing law are made by the bill as ordered 
reported.

                                  [all]